


We Can Do Christmas

by ArtemisRayne



Series: Winter Wonderland [1]
Category: Alice (TV 2009)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Culture Shock, F/M, Fluff, Seriously disgusting amounts of Christmasy fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 16:45:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8852563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisRayne/pseuds/ArtemisRayne
Summary: In the months since Hatter followed her back to her world, Alice had become very good at explaining the way things worked in the Oysterworld. That didn't mean that things didn't occasionally get lost in translation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know. I just was feeling Christmasy, the idea came to me, and I can never resist a bit of Christmas fluff. 
> 
> It's also kind of a tiny attempt to apologise for the fact that it's taking me a millennium to update Down the Rabbithole.

The last few months since Hatter followed her home through the Looking Glass had been an endless learning experience. There were so many things about Alice's world, little things that she took for granted, that completely baffled him. Television, delivery food, public transit. He picked things up quickly enough, but every once in a while they stumbled across something new that would involve Alice answering his never-ending stream of curious questions.

Winter’s arrival brought with it the worst of them all. Alice felt like she had only just finished explaining Halloween to him – “Wait, so people _want_ to be scared?” “What in the cards is a Jack-O-Lantern?” and her personal favourite, “Alice, this costume says Mad Hatter. Is this s’pose to be me?” – when the next big holiday’s decorations elbowed their way into the shops. Ghosts and skeletons gave way to fairy lights and glitter-encrusted snowflakes, and the questions followed immediately in their wake.

Beginning with, “Alice, why’s there trees _inside_?”

Alice was never really into Christmas, or at least not since she was a kid. The holiday just felt empty after her father’s disappearance, and no matter how much Carol tried, they never quite recaptured the holiday magic. The Hamiltons hadn’t done more than the Christmas basics for over a decade.

Hatter, however, was the sort of person who never did anything by halves. He took to each new thing in her world with the same enthusiasm, so it didn’t surprise her when Alice found herself doing more Christmas things in one season than she had in the last ten years combined; gingerbread houses, carolling, candy making, ice skating. She’d been to no less than six various Christmas parties around the neighbourhood – how Hatter kept finding out about them, she had no idea, because she didn’t even know most of the people.

Still, she stopped short when she walked through the front door a week before Christmas to be greeted by the scent of fresh pine. There, in the corner of their little flat’s living room, was a towering evergreen that had definitely not been there when she’d gone to work. It was so tall that the top branches were bent against the ceiling, and there was a familiar bum sticking out from between the lower branches.

“Hatter?” Alice asked, dropping her bag on the sofa. “What are y-?”

“Jus’ a tick,” came the muffled reply from within the tree. “I thin’ I jus’ ‘bout…”

The tree suddenly lit up, lop-sided spirals of multi-coloured fairy lights bathing the room in a cascade of light. Hatter made a triumphant noise and extracted himself from the tree in a rain of pine needles. He sat back on his heels to look up at the tree and then turned to flash a grin her way. “Thought we should ‘ave one,” he said. “That’s a proper Christmas thin’, yeah? A tree. The bloke at the lot told me you's s’posed to decorate it. Seems right silly to me, but you Oysters…”

Curious, Alice walked over to get a better look at the tree. Hatter had, indeed, decorated it. Ribbons in a variety of colours and patterns were tied around branches in elaborate bows. Ornamental buttons and shiny cufflinks hung from bits of thread, the polished brass and stones reflecting the lights. Brightly coloured papers were folded into origami flowers and animals, nestled into the branches. There were interspersed other trinkets, from bits of jewellery to flea market knick-knacks. A Hermes scarf was tied around the uppermost branches. It was, on the whole, the strangest looking Christmas tree that she’d ever seen.

When she glanced down at him, Hatter was still kneeling on the living room rug. His hair was standing up in every direction. There was a pine needle in his fringe. Bits of glitter had flaked off onto his face. And he was smiling up at her hopefully, the tiniest bit of trepidation hovering behind his boundless optimism.

At that moment, Alice felt every bit of reluctance she’d ever held toward Christmas melt away. She glanced at the tree appraisingly and nodded. “Honestly? It’s perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm considering writing a series of Christmas themed Alice stories, but most of the other ideas I've got are more in the AU territory. Thoughts? And/or prompt ideas?


End file.
